


The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

by taichara



Category: Rockman X | Mega Man X
Genre: Confrontations
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-17
Updated: 2013-11-17
Packaged: 2018-01-01 20:13:38
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,613
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1048087
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/taichara/pseuds/taichara
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Long years after the Eurasia and Nightmare Incidents, the world is finally beginning to recover -- and X, fixed on his dream of a utopia built in the future, has been making his turn against the Hunters and their methods all too clear.  But what has he forgotten while fixed on his goal?</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

**Author's Note:**

  * For [boco](https://archiveofourown.org/users/boco/gifts).



 "No."

 There was that tone again, that peevish grit in X's voice that made Alia want to reach across her office and slap sense into him -- with the side of a datapad, if necessary.  That same peevishness was reflected in the dim green eyes, the mulish set of his unarmoured shoulders, and it didn't take tactical genius to know there was more peevish whine to come. 

 Mouth pursed in a thin line of displeasure that she made no effort to conceal, she very pointedly set the pad in question down to join the rest of the clutter (oh how she hated clutter but there never seemed to be enough time to keep up these days) and waited for the refusal to resume. 

 She didn't have to wait long.

 "No, I'm not taking a Navigational position.  I've told you more than once, and I've told Signas more than once; I'm not continuing this cycle of violence any longer.  That includes leading other Hunters to their targets so they can indulge themselves."

 One blonde brow soared towards her hairline at that last; an angry chop of one hand cut off any further argument, with Alia leaning across her desk to stare down into the stubborn green eyes as if she were about to deliver punishment on an especially errant trainee.  Sometimes having height on X was an advantage, and she was more then willing to make use of it.

 "'Indulge themselves'.  _Indulge themselves_ \-- X, are you even hearing what's coming out of your mouth?  Or are you _deliberately_ implying that -- no, don't even bother, I don't want to hear it. 

 "Get out of here before I say something I'm going to regret later."

 "... If that's what you want."

 "Damned right that's what I want.  _Some_ of us have work to do."

 Her caustic retort blindsided him; for a moment his expression was blank with surprise and, Alia noted with a touch of grim satisfaction, a flicker of hurt dismay.  Then the stubborn mask fell over X's face once more, and in one stiff, over-formal motion he was up out of his seat and striding equally stiffly towards the door.  She pretended not to notice.

 But the moment the doors slid closed behind him she was keying up a connection to Zero's private frequency.

 "... The same thing all over again, yes.  No, Signas doesn't have any plans to 'turf him out' any time soon, and I think we both know why. 

 "As far as I know he's headed back to quarters.  If he doesn't wind up there ...  Do you want me to track him?

 "... Ha, fair enough.  He's all yours now; have fun with him."

 -*-

 Twenty minutes into his attempt to get X to open up and let him in.  Twenty damned minutes -- probably a new damned record.  Gritting his teeth, Zero changed tactics from playing increasingly more elaborate freestyle musical cacophony on the door alarm to simply leaning his shoulder into it; if audio torture didn't work, than an unceasing wail should --

 Twenty seconds in, and the door slid open so violently the frame rattled.  If he weren't so aggravated, Zero would have smirked.

  _I win this time._

 The look of pure venom X leveled at him would have sent lesser lights scurrying for cover, but Zero shrugged it off with a muttered hello and a shoulder buffet as he strode into X's barely-illuminated quarters without so much as a by-your-leave (all while ignoring X's squawk of protest) and took up his old perch of days gone by, sprawled across the battered couch shoved into one corner with his hair trailing over one dull rosy couch arm.  His own arms crossed, X keyed the door locked again and eyed the blonde balefully.

 "I don't suppose it occurred to you that maybe, just maybe I wasn't answering because I wanted to be alone?"

 Zero's eyes glinted.

 "I don't suppose it occurred to you that 'alone' is exactly what I'm not willing to let you wallow in?  Not any more, might I point out, than you let me cut myself off when _I_ hit rock bottom.

 "This 'utopia' thing's gotten out of hand, X, you're letting it eat your common sense _and_ your people skills.  You're not doing anything but generating spite, you aren't even making an effort to push forward this insane idea of yours --"

 "It's _not_ insane."

 "-- and you've moved right past wishing that there were better options, and doing what you can when you can, to implying the entirety of the Hunters are murderers and worse.  Even if I wasn't _personally_ insulted by that last part I'd be wondering just how the hell you think you're going to get anyone at HQ to give you the time of day when you're basically equating them with Sigma."

 Once, even in the middle of an argument X would be perched at the other end of the couch, unwilling to put too much distance between himself and Zero.  That was changed, like everything else; he paced back and forth in front of his unwanted guest, footsteps ringing where he connected with bare flooring, and kept himself well out of reach. 

 The deliberate distancing was not lost on Zero.  But it was no time to be indulging his own hurts.

 "... X, damn it, come _on_.  You keep talking about utopia when it's been everything anyone could do just to keep civilization going after the colony drop, and now that there's finally some glimmer of hope, even surface cities going up again, this is when you decide --"

 "Decide what?  Decide that I'm tired of this endless cycle of kill or be killed?"

 Stopped dead in front of the couch, arms still crossed, X stared down at Zero without seeming to see him, his face a twisted mask of pain and undirected anger.  Zero stared back at him, expression unreadable.

 "Decide that I want to find another way, a better way?  Decide that I'm tired of being of being an attack dog for a government that doesn't give a damn, or did you forget _Repliforce_ while you were gone --"

 The hand suddenly clamped around his throat choked X off mid-sentence. 

 He could feel the myomers in his neck straining under Zero's grip, scrabbled in frantic instinct at Zero's arm as two eyes like blue flame bored into his own.  Too-white, too-sharp teeth flashed a hair's-width from his face as Zero hissed.

 "Don't you _ever_ throw them back in my face again, do you hear me?

 "Don't you _ever_ think you have the right."

 Zero seemed unrecognizable, a beast of barely-contained rage; then X found himself flung bodily at the couch as Zero lunged a few paces away, scrubbing at his face with his off-hand, hidden behind his hair.

  _What did I ..._

 "... Zero, I ..."

 "Shut it.  Just _shut_ it, X.  Don't go apologizing when I know damn well you don't mean it.  Maybe you did once, but you sure as hell don't now -- I'm just another Hunter, right?  I'm the biggest murderer of them all.  I showed Sigma the way, after all."

 He was staring at the door now, back to X, hair all but bristling like an electrified, angry cat.  His posture screamed equal parts outrage and betrayal and it almost, _almost_ made X want to scramble up off the couch and mend it all, take back the knife-sharp words ...

 "Sigma -- that was, that was the Virus, Zero, it's not the same -- you're not the same ..."

 "No?"

 One blue eye peered back through the mane, Zero tilting his head to stare at X over his shoulder.

 "What about the Eurasia incident then?  What about _that_ Virus?"

 "That's -- you don't lose control like --"

 "Like the poor bastards we Hunt down?  The ones that can't stay sane and beg for us to end them before they lose themselves completely, or maybe the ones who revel in it -- like Sigma -- before they turn into monsters?  The ones that don't have a damned choice either way, and don't listen to reason because they _can't_ listen to reason?  _Because of the damn Virus?_

 "You keep harping about refusing to use violence, X, that there's a better way that doesn't involve violence.  Well, if you've got a better answer for the viral ones I'd love to hear it because where I stand, we're doing them a damn favour as much as we're protecting their victims.  And you know it.  Or you did, once."

 With a sigh that shuddered through his intakes, Zero shook himself -- like shedding rain -- and started towards the door, and X made no move to stop him. 

 A pace before he reached the smooth metal paneling, Zero paused, ground his teeth, and turned to face the dark-haired figure still sprawled across the couch like a discarded doll.  X's eyes were shadowed, dull; Zero ignored it.

 "What about our promise, X?

 "Does _that_ matter to you any more either?"

 -- and he was suddenly gone in a whirl of blonde mane, with X left brooding, wounded, in the dark.

 -*-

 For a long, long moment he was still as a statue, staring at the door as if it were some strange alien thing.  For even longer he squeezed his eyes closed and tried to rationalize, make some kind of sense of what had just happened.

 Did Zero mean what he’d said?

 … Did he?

 Pain like a tide threatened to overwhelm him, but he forced it down ruthlessly.  Zero just wasn’t listening – he didn’t understand, none of them understood.  There _was_ another way, why couldn’t they all see that …

 … there had to be another way.  How else was he going to wash the stains from his hands?

  _‘"What about our promise, X?”’_

_Zero …_

_… What do I do?_

 

 


End file.
